David Cameron optimistic despite bleak IMF forecast

The prime minister
David Cameron is remaining optimistic despite the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashing its growth forecast for the UK.

David Cameron remains optimistic about the UK economy (Picture: Reuters)

It predicted that the UK economy will shrink by 0.4 per cent this year, a downgrade from three months ago, when a growth of 0.2 per cent was forecast.

He said he will not be turning to plan B, which is more borrowing, but in fact Plan A+.

‘We need to keep our plans – difficult though they are – to cut public spending and deal with the deficit.

‘But we need to add to that every measure that business has been asking for, and that’s what we’re doing,’ the prime minister explained to Sky News.

Director of the IMF Christine Lagarde has slashed the growth forecast for the UK (Picture: Reuters)

The bad news for the UK economy did not end with the predicted shrinking this year, with the IMF forecasting growth in 2013 will be just 1.1 per cent, rather than the 1.4 per cent estimated three months ago.

Chancellor George Osborne is set to travel to Tokyo later this week to meet the IMF, but he has reassured the British public that he is ‘representing a country that is seen as part of the solution, not part of the problem’.

However, the IMF also revealed that this year, Britain will have a bigger budget deficit than Greece, 8.2 per cent of GDP, compared to the troubled nation’s 7.5 per cent.